Talon King Ikiss
Second boss of Sethekk Halls in Auchindoun. General information *Level (Normal): 69 Elite *Level (Heroic): 72 Elite *Type: Humanoid *Location: Found at map location 3 Abilities *Normal Attack - ~2k on cloth, 800-1000 on plate. *Arcane Volley - hits nearby targets for around 1500 arcane. *Arcane Explosion - Massive and huge AoE (approx 40 yard range) 4.5 to 5k damage. *Blink - often to someone (even if they are out of LoS) - right after this he casts Arcane Explosion *Polymorph - turns someone into a sheep - lasts for 10 seconds, regenerates health but does not (I think) break from damage Strategies Ikiss has low armor and his melee attacks are fairly weak and can generally be healed through without any difficulty. He has three abilities that make the fight more than a typical tank and spank: *First, he casts a polymorph with a short duration of about 5 seconds. As a result, a secondary healer is helpful in the fight, as if the only healer is polymorphed, the fight becomes much more difficult, and an unlucky chain following a polymorph can lead to a wipe. The polymorph is dispellable and has a cast time, but cannot be interrupted. He seems to cast it on the second person on his threat list, and as such anything your party can do to help your healer reduce their threat generation will help with preventing a wipe. *Second are his periodic Arcane Bolt volleys. It hits all characters and has infinite range, but can be resisted. A healer that is on top of the situation can usually make this ability trivial, particularly a priest that casts Prayer of Healing immediately after the volley, if possible. Ikiss casts the first volley soon after being aggroed; it is recommended that this initial damage is not healed (except on the tank) until the tank has sufficiently established aggro; even if you have a good tank, it's still helpful to stick with no more than HoTs on DPS characters until aggro is well-established. *Last, and most deadly, is his blink-and-AoE combo. At various times throughout the fight, Ikiss will blink to a random character and begin casting a powerful, uninterruptible AoE blast (generally 4000-5000 damage), accompanied by an emote, that has a range of approximately 30 yards. The damage of this attack can be completely avoided by breaking line of sight, usually done by running around one of the four pillars in the room, and can also be resisted. The AoE has an animation and a fairly long casting time, which is crucial to watch for in order to avoid the damage from the attack – Ikiss's blink can be to a melee class character, and therefore very difficult to notice. Ikiss never casts his AoE without blinking immediately before it. The blink seems to have an threat reduction associated with it and it apparently possible that he may blink multiple times before settling into the AoE cast animation. In a typical battle, your tank will run in and aggro Ikiss, pulling him next to a pillar. Ranged dps and healers should position themselves near other pillars. Ikiss will soon cast his initial Arcane Bolt volley. Once sufficient threat has been established by the tank, dps can begin. If possible, dispel polymorphs quickly. Watch for his blink and the AoE animation; as soon as this is seen, all characters must quickly run around a pillar near them, to a location where line of sight on Ikiss is broken. After the very noticeable blast, the tank should immediately move to re-establish aggro if another character has gained it. Another volley and polymorph will soon follow. Repeat until Ikiss is dead. Melee classes seem to be most prone to dying in this strategy, as they usually have the farthest to run when Ikiss begins his AoE; if your party includes several (or is otherwise unable to survive long enough to kill Ikiss using the above strategy) Arcane Resistance gear or Arcane Protection consumables may help. Generally, the most difficult part of the Ikiss fight is learning to notice his AoE animation. Once everyone knows what to look for and is able to quickly move to avoid it, the fight becomes trivial. The only difficulty then comes from dps not waiting until aggro is re-established after the blast, and pulling Ikiss off the tank and dying. Other effective strategies include using the stairs to the entrance/exit of the instance to break line of sight, having rogues use Cloak of Shadows to avoid the AoE blast entirely, and having healers equip PvP trinkets to dispel polymorph or using a Grounding Totem to avoid it. The volley may only be cast when there is at least one person out of melee range of Ikiss; moving everyone close to him may stop him from casting it, but can also make detecting his blink much more difficult. *My party found that tanking Ikiss between a pillar and a wall, and the entire party surrounding the boss worked well. That way, when Ikiss Blinks to start his AoE, he blinks to the same spot, making it easy for the entire group to run behind a pillar. After the AoE goes off, the tank can then reestablish aggro and repeat the process. Heroic Difficulty Talon King Ikiss is not terribly difficult on Heroic Difficulty. His damage output is about doubled on plate (1600-2000 a hit on a decently geared warrior) and all of his abilities have had their damage significantly upped. His arcane volley now hits for between 2000 and 4000 and he uses it fairly often, so it is advisable to bring arcane protection potions and/or two or three pieces of arcane resist gear to counter that. His blink/arcane explosion mechanics are the same - easily avoidable by line of sight - but he does seem to drop aggro a fair bit more, so he may end up sheeping the tank. He is still very squishy so DPS can burn him down fairly quick (had the same group on him twice in a row - warrior, healer, mage, warlock, rogue - and we were able to burn about 25% every time before he would blink and cast arcane explosion) The biggest problem in the fight is his arcane volley, so the healer has to be prepared to keep everyone close to topped off or they may end up dying from one of his volleys. Other than the increased damage output, he is fairly easy to take down as long as DPS is constant and people prevent deaths. Healthstones/potions are invaluable in this fight at keeping people topped off, yet the arcane resist makes it very simple. He seems to have been nerfed a lot, his arcane volleys only hit for 1600-1900 now. The only (minor) difficulty left is a sheeped tank after an arcane explosion. As of patch 2.1.0 his arcane volleys once again hit for about 3000. Also his arcane explosion must be line of sighted by pillars because it almost covers the whole room. Also as of 2.1.0 he also randomly casts SLOW on the party, which lasts for around 10 seconds. this can be a real pain before the arcane explosion some times. Background Talon King Ikiss is one of the leaders of the Sethekk, along with Darkweaver Syth. It was they who led the exodus of the Sethekk from Skettis to the ruins of Auchindoun. In the beginning, Ikiss was a charismatic leader, but he has descended into madness. Now, he openly proclaims that he is Terokk reborn and expects the Arakkoa to bend knee to him as their ruler. Quests * Loot Other drops may include: * http://www.thottbot.com/i27946 * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=11200 * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=7928 * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=10127 * http://www.thottbot.com/i23572 * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=7927 * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=12197 * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=7100 * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=13001 * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=7929 * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=6453 (requires zone-PvP buff) * http://www.thottbot.com/beta?i=534 (Quest Item) Loot (Heroic) requires zone-PvP buff External Links * AmpWoW Category:Bosses Category:Instance:Sethekk Halls Category:Arakkoa